Since the cancellation of the original Star Trek series, which had only 79 episodes in three seasons, nearly every subsequent series in the franchise has managed to outlive the show that started it all. However over the past five decades, there have been a few of franchise entries which suffered a similar fate to the original series. Here are a couple of spin-offs which got the plug pulled on them too soon.
Star Trek: The Animated Series
The shortest Star Trek series overall is the animated series from the early 1970s. The cartoon adventures of Captain Kirk and friends aired in between the cancellation of The Original Series and the launch of the movie franchise. Most of the original cast returned to reprise their roles in that cartoon, which only had 22 episodes in two seasons. Although it’s not remembered as much as it’s live-action counterparts, The Animated Series did inspire the popular “Sarcastically Surprised Kirk” internet meme.
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The reason why this series had such a short run is because most animated shows during that time weren’t intended to last long. So despite being the shortest Star Trek show, The Animated Series actually reached its intended conclusion. Decades later, a new Star Trek cartoon finally arrived with Star Trek: Lower Decks in 2020. In a time where animated television receives more longevity, it’s likely Lower Decks will outlive the ’70s animated series.
Star Trek: Enterprise
By the time Star Trek: Enterprise made its 2001 debut, the Star Trek franchise had been on a roll with several popular television series throughout the ’80s and ’90s, beginning with Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, despite being about the original Enterprise captain, Jonathan Archer, Enterprise would last just four seasons and fail to reach 100 episodes, making it the shortest live-action series since the original.
Just as Star Wars was in the middle of their prequel trilogy, Star Trek decided to make a prequel for their universe as well. The problem was that viewers were pretty fatigued with Star Trek content by the early 2000s. Enterprise suffered out of the gate thanks to low ratings, poor reception and a general lack of interest from Trekkies. Knowing this it’s actually somewhat impressive the series managed to get 97 episodes in four seasons before finally getting canceled in 2005. Unfortunately it also ended on a sour note for Trekkies with a divisive series finale. The franchise’s hot streak of TV shows finally came to an end with Enterprise, putting the franchise into hibernation until J.J. Abrams’s 2009 reboot.
Despite the fan fatigue in the 2000s, Star Trek’s television shows have been roaring nowadays with series such as Star Trek: Discovery, Picard and Star Trek: Lower Decks. Since those shows are still going strong, it looks like Enterprise will go down as a franchise anomaly in being axed prematurely. Altogether, the franchise is impressive for how it all began in the late 1960s with a show that had just 79 episodes; however, it looks like Star Trek will not be slowing down anytime soon.
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